Concerns over the limited supply of fossil fuels have generated a great deal of research and engineering work in the area of alternative fuel and energy sources. Additionally, air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels is another area of great interest. The concerns related to fossil fuels are related to many of the things that we do, from driving automobiles to recycling consumer products.
One (1) area that has received particular attention is that of reducing energy consumption used by illumination sources. Fluorescent strip light fixtures have been the mainstay of lighting in offices, stores, schools, and similar locations for many years. A fluorescent strip light fixture is typically a long, rectangular light fixture that fits into a ceiling grid. Fluorescent strip light fixtures are often surface mounted boxes but they also may be implemented recessed into the ceiling grid. While fluorescent strip light fixtures were originally designed for use with standard fluorescent lamps their widespread acceptance, modular benefits, low cost and ease of installing and maintaining have led them to be used with integral LED sources. While fluorescent strip light fixtures represent a major improvement over incandescent lamps they cannot compete with high efficiency LED lighting.
While LED lighting is highly energy efficient the cost of replacing existing light fixtures with LED light fixtures has been so high that many users simply put up with the inefficiencies of fluorescent lamps. Recently some manufacturers and suppliers have responded with LED retrofit kits. While such retrofit kits can be beneficial they are typically difficult and time consuming to install and usually do not afford the user with the ability to increase or decrease the number of light tubes to compensate for the increased efficiency of LED lamps.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a device by which fluorescent lamps in existing fluorescent strip light fixtures can be easily upgraded to LED-style lighting strip light fixtures at low cost.